LVI. 1809. CHAP. spectators of the Austrian efforts, they were not in safe position to take a part in them, until the intentions of Russia were declared. They resolved, therefore, to remain neutral; and thus had Napoleon again the extraordinary good fortune, through his own address or the jealousies or timidity of the other potentates, of engaging a fourth 1 Hard. x. time in mortal conflict with one of the great European powers while the other two were mere spectators of the strife.1 299. Pelet, i. 65, 67. 12. General effervescence in in aid of cause. But, though refused all co-operation from the European cabinets, the court of Vienna was not without hopes of obtaining powerful succours from the Germanic people. The Tugenbund or Burchenschaft, which had spread its the Austrian ramifications as far as indignation at French oppression was felt in the north and east of Germany, had already formed a secret league against the oppressor, independent of the agreements of cabinets; and thousands of brave men in Westphalia, Cassel, Saxony, and the Prussian states, animated by the example of the Spanish patriots, were prepared to start up in arms for the defence of the Fatherland, as soon as the Imperial standards crossed the Inn. The peasants of the Tyrol, whose ardent and hereditary attachment to the house of Hapsburg had been rendered still more enthusiastic by the bitter experience they had had of their treatment as aliens and enemies by the Bavarian government, longed passionately to rejoin the much-loved Austrian dominion; and the first battalion of the Imperial troops which crossed the Salzbourg frontier would, it was well known, at once rouse twenty thousand brave mountaineers into desperate and formidable hostility. The cabinet of Vienna, despite its aristocratic prepossessions, was prepared to take full advantage of these favourable dispositions; and, impelled by necessity, not only maintained in secret an active correspondence with the numerous malcontents in the adjoining provinces, who panted for the hour of German deliverance, but was prepared, the moment hos LVI. 1809. tilities were commenced, to call upon them by animated CHAP. proclamations to repair to its standards, and determine, by a vigorous popular demonstration, the uncertainty or vacillations of their respective governments. Thus had the energy of general enthusiasm in the course of the contest already come to change sides. While France, resting on the coalitions of cabinets and the force of disciplined armies, was sternly repressing, in every direction, the fervour of national exertion, Spain and Austria openly invoked the aid of popular enthusiasm, and loudly 1 Pelet, i. proclaimed the right of mankind, when oppression had 71, 79. Erz. reached a certain point, to redress their own wrongs, 52, 54. and take the lead in the achievement of their own deli- 56, 60. verance.1 * Johan. Feld. Thiers, X. 13. Metternich, at Paris. Meanwhile the Austrian ambassador at Paris had the difficult task to discharge, of maintaining apparently ami- Character of cable relations with the French government at the time the Austrian when his cabinet were openly preparing the means of decided hostility. But the BARON METTERNICH, who then filled that important situation at the court of Napoleon, was a man whose abilities were equal to the task. A statesman, in the widest acceptation of the word, gifted with a sagacious intellect, a clear perception, a sound judgment; profoundly versed in the secrets of diplomacy, and the characters of the leading political men with whom he was brought in contact in the different European cabinets; persevering in his policy, farseeing in his views, unrivalled in his discrimination, and * Napoleon loudly accused the cabinet of Vienna of insurrectionary iniquity, in thus fomenting popular efforts against the armies of imperial France. "Austria," said the Moniteur, "has adopted the revolutionary system: she has no right now to complain of the conduct of the Convention, in proclaiming war to the palace and peace to the cottage. A plan has been organised at Vienna for a general insurrection over all Europe, the execution of which is confided to the ardent zeal of the princes of the house of Austria, propagated by the proclamations of its generals, and diffused by its detachments at the distance of two hundred leagues from its armies. The leading characteristic of that system is, the terror universally spread by the Austrian generals, to excite by main force that revolution."-Moniteur, No. 239, 1809; and PELET, i. 79. LVI. 1809. CHAP. at the same time skilful in concealing these varied qualities; a perfect master of dissimulation in public affairs, and yet honourable and candid in private life; capable of acquiring information from others, at the very moment when he was eluding all similar investigations by them; unbounded in application, richly endowed with knowledge, he also enjoyed the rare faculty of veiling these great acquirements under the cover of polished manners, and causing his superiority to be forgotten in the charms of a varied and intellectual conversation. These admirable abilities were fully appreciated at Berlin, where he had formerly been ambassador; but the excited jealousy and distrust among the diplomatists of Paris, who, seeing in the new representative of the Cæsars, qualities which they were not accustomed to in his predecessors, and unable either to overcome his caution, or divine his intentions, launched forth into invectives against his character, and put a forced or 174, 175. malevolent construction upon his most inconsiderable 1 Hard. x. 302, 303. D'Abr. xvi. 14. notes be- French and actions.1 Notwithstanding all his caution and diplomatic address, Angry inter- however, the Austrian ambassador could not blind the change of French Emperor to the preparations which were going forward. In a public audience of the envoys of the principal European powers at Paris, he openly charged the cabinet of Vienna with hostile designs; and Metternich, who could not deny them, had no alternative but to protest that they were defensive only, and rendered necessary by the hostile attitude of the princes of the Rhenish confederacy, to whom Napoleon had recently transmitted orders to call out their contingents. truth, however, though loud complaints of hostile pre In "Well," said Napoleon, "M. Metternich, here are fine news from Vienna ! What does all this mean? Have they been stung by scorpions? Who threatens you? What would you be at? As long as I had my army in Germany, you conceived no disquietude for your existence; but the moment it was transferred to Spain, you consider yourselves endangered! What can be the end of these things? What, but that I must arm as you arm, for at length I am seriously menaced. I am rightly punished for my former caution. Have you, CHAP. LVI. 1809. parations were made on both sides, neither party was sir, communicated your pretended apprehensions to your court? If you have LVI. 1809. Feb. 28. CHAP. which had reached ninety after the treaty of Tilsit, fell to eighty but Napoleon, with despotic authority, determined they should descend no further. Without consulting his council, he issued an order that all stock offered below eighty should be purchased by the government with money 1 Thib. vii. furnished by the sinking-fund and the bank. The stock speedily fell lower, but the government purchases arrested the decline, and for six months the struggle continued, 117, 119, during which 30,000,000 francs (£1,200,000) were Bign. viii. expended by the treasury. In the end, however, the battle of Wagram put an end to the contest, by raising the stock above eighty.' 205, 206. Hard. x. 303, 304. Pelet, i. Stut. 14, 20. 145. Thiers, x. 52. 15. Deep um brage taken by Austria at the con ference of Erfurth. In the course of his discussions with Champagny, the French minister for foreign affairs at this period, Metternich, with all his caution, could not disguise the deep umbrage taken by Austria at not having been invited to take part in the conferences of Erfurth; and he admitted, that, if this had been done, the cabinet of Vienna would in all probability have recognised Joseph as King of Spain, and the rupture would have been entirely prevented. This was the most serious grievance which he had to allege against the coalesced Emperors. It was more than an affair of jealousy; material interests were at stake. Austria had good reason to anticipate evil to herself from the ominous conjunction of two such powers in her neighbourhood; while at the same time, the cordiality of Alexander would unquestionably have cooled if Francis or Metternich had been admitted to these deliberations. Napoleon's favour was too precious to be divided between two potentates without exciting jealousy: like a beauty surrounded by lovers, he could not show a pre3 Thib. vii. ference to one without producing estrangement of the other. He chose for his intimate ally the power of whose strength he had had the most convincing experience, and from whose hostility he had, from its distance, least to apprehend. 2 207. Bign. viii. 181. Thiers, x. 91. Meanwhile, Napoleon was rapidly completing his arrangements. Orders were despatched to Davoust early |